


Each Brave Step Forward

by Yotsubadancesintherain5



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), F/M, Soriel Week (Undertale), Soriel Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25937416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yotsubadancesintherain5/pseuds/Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: An exploration of Toriel and Sans across seven unique days.
Relationships: Sans/Toriel (Undertale)
Kudos: 14





	1. Dancing

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Soriel week 2020!

Dancing was something that required a lot of effort. Coordination was key between two partners and it was something that Sans did not possess a lot of, he found out.

Toriel took it in stride, for her own steps were uneven and clumsy, but she told him that neither of them would get better if they stopped practicing. So Sans would practice with her.

Sometimes it did not seem either had gotten better. Sans would be off-tempo and would have to account for his small stature. Toriel would nearly step on his feet or stumble to the side.

But once in a while they got it right. And on this rare occasion Sans spoke as they danced.

“sorry that i’m usually a lousy dance partner.”

“I fear that it is me that isn’t up to par for dancing. Sometimes I wonder if my dancing would inspire disinterest instead of good-natured feelings as well,” Toriel said. She took great care to not step on his foot on a particularly swift dance move.

But Toriel smiled and said sagely, “But, Sans, I have heard something very good indeed. When you are in love the joy of the dance is what matters. And I am joyful when we dance.”

“well. Then I’m also joyful when we dance, tori. but I still prefer the name sans.”

It took a second for Toriel to realize the joke but Sans relished the moment when her eyes would light up and she began to laugh in earnest.


	2. Greetings

A wonderful thing about the surface was that there were so many opportunities for greetings, from anywhere and everywhere.

They came from the parents and students at school in the weekday mornings, from the grocery store when she shopped with Frisk and Sans, from Humans that were just getting to know her and Monsters that were beginning to know her again.

Toriel had not had so greetings in abundance for a long, long time and she hadn’t known that she missed it so much. There were many greetings that Toriel treasured.

She would always treasure that first greeting with Sans.


	3. Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a grand kingdom where Humans and Monsters lived in harmony.

It came to pass that two skeleton brothers moved to this kingdom. They did not know the history of the kingdom, or how the queen quietly left her position, but they learned how the harmony came to pass.

Long ago the king and queen had lost their child and their adopted Human child to illness and the tragedy paved the way for peace.

The taller brother, Papyrus, joined the royal guard and the shorter brother, Sans, became a sentry.

One day Papyrus came to his brother with an important mission.

“SANS! IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ THIS!”

Papyrus placed the grungy letter on the center of Sans’ sentry station. Papyrus groaned in disgust when Sans opened it up using the entirety of his skeletal hands, as opposed to Papyrus handling it with the tip of his index finger and thumb.

Sans read the letter which said that children had been going into a colorful candy house and disappearing.

“where did you find this?” Sans asked, for it seemed to be the sort of situation that required the entirety of the royal guard.

“RUFFIAN CHILDREN GAVE IT TO ME! I MUST LOOK FOR THIS DELICIOUS-SOUNDING HOUSE AND RESCUE THE CHILDREN. ALL OF THEM WILL BE PROTECTED UNDER MY CARE!”

“good luck, bro. let me know how it goes.”

“NONSENSE, BROTHER! TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE BONEHEAD, AND YOU MUST SHARE IN THE JOY OF RETURNING THOSE TYKES TO THEIR HOMES!”

If Papyrus declared it, it would happen so Sans followed his brother into the woods.

Papyrus constructed many stories as they walked, to stave off boredom. The beetles were the ones that warned children of this nefarious child-stealing. The leaves could be used as a map and the trees were landmarks. Sans wouldn’t have minded sleeping under a tree.

They came upon a house that did look like a candy, the sheen of the dark wood like a toffee-flavored candy. There were apples trees around the house, and the apples could bring up images of candy. And there were noisy children coming and going out of the house to the tables outside.

Undeterred, Papyrus went into the house first and declared, “CEASE, VILLAIN – YOUR MAJESTY?”

The goat boss Monster that was at an oven looked at him quizzically. Sans noticed that the children around them were unharmed.

“BEWARE, BROTHER! IT SEEMS THE VILLAIN IS A CLONE OF THE KING,” Papyrus whispered. It was still loud.

“Oh my,” said the apparent villain. “Did you receive a letter from a gang of ruffian children?”

“YES! WAIT, NO ONE HAS VANQUISHED YOU YET, VILLAIN?”

“The ruffian children like to play that trick on new recruits to the kingdom staff,” explained the not-apparent villain. “Maybe it keeps up morale?”

“BUT WE STILL ARE NOT SURE IF YOU ARE A VILLAIN!”

“Toriel’s not a villain!” shouted one of the children.

“Yeah, she’s just an old lady,” piped up another child.

“from the mouth of babes, bro. looks like we were wrong,” Sans said.

“SO IT SEEMS THOSE RUFFIANS WERE NOT RUFFIANS WITH HEARTS OF GOLD!” Papyrus exclaimed, dismayed. “AND WE HAVE INTRUDED ON YOUR HOME OF HEALTHY EATERIES! MY APOLOGIZES!”

“It is all right. You both have hearts of gold,” Toriel assured. “But there is a mission that is not a lie. I am making an apple pie and I need someone tall to get the apples from the trees.”

“IT WILL BE DONE!”

Before Papyrus got out the door a gaggle of laughing children climbed on him, hanging from his arms and clinging to his legs. He got a lot of enthusiastic helpers as he went to retrieve the apples.

Sans went to help Toriel prepare the pie. He had a question – if she was the queen that quietly left and there was very good reason to believe that she was as she matched the murals that decorated the castle – but he was not one to disrupt a cheerful atmosphere.

So instead he mixed the batter at her instruction and helped her line the tin with the bottom crust and did not mind this work at all.


	4. Cooking

Toriel had to go to a very long, very important teacher-parent meeting and could not make a specific dessert for a specific special occasion.

In a burst of motivation Sans had volunteered to try his hand at making the special dessert. It had to be a surprise so he enlisted Papyrus to distract Frisk from realizing what Sans would be cooking.

It was definitely easy to say and do and Sans would have to be grateful for it because making this dessert was still an elusive skill.

The butter nearly burned in the pan on the stove but Sans saved it from such a fate. When he mixed the ingredients together in the bowl they nearly spilled over onto the counter. He had to mix slower.

The tin was already set with the bottom crust, so Sans was relieved when the finished mixture was poured into the tin.

He watched the oven diligently as the special dessert baked.

To Sans’ relief it didn’t look half-bad when he took it out of the oven. He let the dessert cool on the counter and went to join Papyrus and Frisk in their game when he was done.

About thirty minutes later Toriel was back home, and the four of them were able to partake in that special dessert.

A butterscotch-cinnamon pie was a wonderful way to celebrate the anniversary of Frisk’s adoption.


	5. Mirror

Toriel was standing in front of her full length mirror that was in the bedroom. She was trying to catch hold of the zipper on her dress.

She strained to look over, her paws trying to find the little zipper that was left halfway up her back. She huffed in annoyance.

It would soon be time to leave for the play so Toriel had to hurry. Her paw finally grasped the elusive zipper but it gagged on the teeth of the chain. She knew not to force it or the zipper might break.

“toriel, the kid is ready to go – oh.”

“Sans, can you please get this for me?” Toriel asked. She could hear the relief in her voice.

“you’re havin’ trouble? i got it.”

In a few seconds the zipper was loosened from the gag and zipped up seamlessly. Toriel turned around to face Sans.

Toriel placed her paws on Sans’ face and dropped a kiss to the top of his skull.

“Thank you, my dear. Shall we go?”


	6. AU - Underfell

Today was perfect weather. A storm had moved in, and Toriel had Frisk in her lap as the two watched the storm outside. The storm rattled the window, eliciting pure delight from Frisk, and it was the sort of storm that would occasionally make the entire house shake.

For the occasion Toriel wore a black dress that was soft to the touch for Humans, as opposed to her usual black, scratchy dress. Frisk liked the soft one better. She did find some of her child’s tastes odd but was willing to accommodate to her child’s liking.

Sans walked up beside the chair on the eleventh lightening strike. He was also marveling at the storm, as Toriel could see that his teeth were relaxed in their permanent smile. She liked all his teeth but especially the gold one.

But there was troubling news that could mar this perfectly marvelous day.

Luckily for Toriel Sans spoke of the topic and Toriel could be grateful for that segue.

“how was school today?”

“It’s strange. Some of the Human children barely touched their snail pie. It’s such a fine treat,” Toriel said as she tousled Frisk’s hair. “Frisk was the only one to eat it all.”

Frisk nodded, their smile wide at the praise.

“good kid. i think that deserves a reward, don’t you, toriel?”

“Very well. Frisk, you may have an extra hour to play in the bat cave.”

Overcome with excitement Frisk fell out of Toriel’s lap to go down to where the bat caves were in the house. Toriel looked at them with fondness as they ran.

“Some of their tastes are a bit abnormal,” Toriel said. “But their heart is in the right place. Did you know that today Frisk spoke up against an injustice in one of those strange, ghastly fairytales?”

“tell me.”

“We all know that in the frog prince, the titular frog runs away from that petulant princess and marries a warty toad,” Toriel said. “But one of the Human children said that the princess threw the slimy frog against the wall and he turned into a prince.”

“a princess throwing wonderfully slimy frogs at walls? what are they teaching those human kids?”

“I do not mind the interpretation of a frog prince marrying a Human princess,” Toriel said, “But I will not have frogs being treated so impolitely. Frisk told it as much.”

“well, it sure goes to show, tori. riches do not mean that you are taught _manners_.”

“Indeed, my dear. But enough of that dreadful talk. Let us enjoy the weather.”

Sometimes enjoying the weather came with a side of Sans kissing up Toriel’s arm. She found it very pleasant, and was pleased that the unpleasant news was unable to mar the marvelous day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Underfell hasn't really sparked inspiration for me, until recently. I was watching the 1964 Addams Family TV show, thought that the Underfell cast could act like the Addams Family, and inspiration came like a lightening bolt.


	7. Free Day: Dinner

It was strange to think that it had been five years since they came out of the underground. To Toriel, five years could go by in the blink of an eye; inconsequential with how many years she had lived.

But that meant it was imperative that she appreciated the now.

Now, she was at a family dinner. Papyrus was making paper Froggits for Frisk, who clapped whenever their little village of paper Froggits grew in size. Sans would count the amount. Toriel watched on fondly. Her paw was grasped by Sans’ hand.

Toriel would forever be grateful for this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this.


End file.
